Book launch: Thorns, Lust and Glory: The betrayal of Anne Boleyn, by Estelle Paranque

New from Amazon UK 

and pre-order from Amazon US

Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower of London on the 19th of May, 1536—orchestrated by her own husband—never ceases to intrigue. 

How did this courtier's daughter become the queen of England, and what was it that really tore apart this illustrious marriage, rendering her the whore of England, an abandoned woman left to be executed on the scaffold? While many stories of Anne’s downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her grim fate.

In Thorns, Lust, and Glory, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England's most infamous queens. At the court of the French king as a resourceful teenage girl, Anne's journey to infamy began, and this landmark biography explores the world that shaped her, and how these loyalties would leave her vulnerable, leading to her ruin at the volatile court of Henry VIII.

A fascinating new perspective on Tudor history's most enduring story, Thorns, Lust, and Glory is an unmissable account of a queen on the edge.

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About the Author

Dr Estelle Paranque completed her PhD in Early Modern History at University College London, and is currently a Lecturer in Early Modern History at New College of the Humanities at Northeastern where she teaches courses on Early Modern Britain, Early Modern Europe, and the Early Modern World. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also a co-convenor of the Tudor and Stuart Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research in London. She has been teaching at university level for the last nine years and is dedicated to share her passion for history with the next generation. Her research interests are royal and diplomatic studies. She works on Anglo-French relations during Elizabeth's reign and on monarchical representations during the early modern period. Estelle is also very interested in public engagement and has participated in the popular historical documentary Secrets d'Histoire on France 2, BBC Radio 4, and numerous podcasts (BBC History, Viral History, Hidden Stories with Helen Carr for HistoryHit). Find out more at her website https://www.estelleparanque.com/ and find her on Twitter @DrEstellePrnq

Blog Tour Excerpt: A Splendid Defiance, by Stella Riley

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

For two years England has been in the grip of Civil War. In Banbury, Oxfordshire, the Cavaliers hold the Castle, the Roundheads want it back and the town is full of zealous Puritans. Consequently, the gulf between Captain Justin Ambrose and Abigail Radford, the sister of a fanatically religious shopkeeper, ought to be unbridgeable. The key to both the fate of the Castle and that of Justin and Abigail lies in defiance. But will it be enough?

Excerpt ~ After the fire at Compton Wynyates:

Captain Ambrose lay in bed, propped up by several pillows, his torso naked except for the bandaging around his ribs.  Abigail flushed and said, ‘Who was that lady?’

   ‘My nurse,’ said Justin, indifferently.  ‘Didn’t Ned introduce you?’

   ‘No.’ His hands, also bandaged, lay with helpless stillness at his sides.  ‘How are you?’

   ‘Still breathing.’

   She looked into silvery eyes empty of expression.  ‘Well, that’s good isn’t it?’

   ‘That would depend on your point of view.’

   Shock banished embarrassment and she crossed to the bed.

   ‘I brought a few things for you.  Nothing much … just a cordial of my mother’s and – ’ She set the basket on the floor. ‘Please don’t look like that.’

   ‘Like what?’

   ‘As if … as if you wished you’d died.’  Her eyes widened in horror. ‘You don’t, do you?’

   He shrugged slightly and his breath caught as the pain hit him.

   ‘Why shouldn’t I?’

   She did not reply and something in her gaze finally succeeded in piercing his detachment. With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, he added, ‘And then again, why should I? Don’t get carried away. I’m well enough. Unlike you – if Jonas finds out you came here.’
   ‘He won’t. And Sam is with me – at least, he’s with your nurse.’ She paused, watching him frown.

   ‘What is it?’

   ‘Where are they?’
   ‘On the ramparts, I think.’
   ‘Well, that should be safe enough. She can’t seduce him and has no reason to push him off.’
   ‘What?’
   ‘Nothing.’ He leaned back, looking at her from beneath half-closed lids. ‘Merely my rather warped sense of humour. What did you say you had in that basket?’
   ‘Calves-foot jelly, a bottle of cherry cordial and something of Mother’s for your hands,’ she recited, still staring. ‘Why should she do either?’
   He sighed, closing his eyes.
   ‘God! Will I never learn? All right. She won’t do the second till she’s failed to do the first. Satisfied?’
   ‘No. Who is she?’
   ‘Her name is Anne Rhodes and she is what Jonas would call a harlot,’ he snapped. ‘And don’t tell me you don’t understand that.’
   ‘Oh. No.’ She eyed him uncertainly. ‘How do you know?’
   ‘How do you think?’
   ‘Oh,’ said Abigail again, wishing she hadn’t asked.
   His eyes remained closed, allowing her time to notice the carved pallor of his face, the scattering of burn marks on his chest and the places where the long, walnut hair had been singed. The line between his brows deepened and something tightened in her throat. She asked diffidently, ‘Do your ribs hurt?’
   ‘Not unless I laugh. But I’m showing restraint in that department.’
   ‘Oh – stop it!’ Suddenly, she was unable to bear it. ‘Since you can’t possibly care what I think, there’s no need to put on a performance.’
   The grey eyes opened slowly, hazy with pain but remotely smiling.
   ‘And what do you think, Abigail Radford?’
   ‘I think … I think I’d like to look at your hands. May I?’
   He gave a brief, humourless laugh.
   ‘Help yourself. I can’t stop you. And you’re quite right, of course. They hurt like hell.’

Stella Riley

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About the Author

Stella Riley is the winner of four gold medals for historical romance and sixteen Book Readers’ Appreciation Medallions, Stella Riley lives in the beautiful medieval town of Sandwich in Kent. She is fascinated by the English Civil Wars and has written six books set in that period. These, like the 7 book Rockliffe series, the Brandon Brothers trilogy and, most recently The Shadow Earl, are all available in audio, performed by Alex Wyndham. Stella enjoys travel, reading, theatre, Baroque music and playing the harpsichord. She also has a fondness for men with long hair - hence her 17th and 18th century heroes. Find out more from Stella's website https://stellarileybooks.co.uk and find her on Facebook and Twitter @RileyStella

Book Launch: The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens, by Nicola Clark

New from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. 

But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

The Waiting Game explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. We meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. 

Anne Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Parker was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour Anne Basset kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the Queen, and even the desires of the King himself. 

As Henry changed wives, and changed the very fabric of the country's structure besides, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn't exist before. The Waiting Game is the first time their vital story has been told.

'Written in a lively, accessible style, The Waiting Game is full of insight' Suzannah Lipscomb, Literary Review

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About the Author

Dr Nicola Clark is an Associate Lecturer; Visiting Tutor and Lecturer at the University of Chichester; Royal Holloway, University of London. You can find her on Twitter @NikkiClark86

Book Launch: The Darkest Night: a twisty historical mystery by Victoria Hawthorne

New from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A bewitching and haunting story of family secrets - and the lengths some will go to protect them.

When Ailsa Reid's life in London begins to fall apart, she escapes to her grandparents' house in Fife. But she arrives to find her grandmother, Moira - recently diagnosed with dementia - has gone missing.

Desperate to ensure Moira's safe return, Ailsa must rely on the help of her estranged mother, Rowan. Tensions simmer between the two women as they attempt to piece together what has happened.

To find Moira, both Ailsa and Rowan must look to their ancestors, to a story about witches burned on the hill above the Reid house centuries ago and the curse laid upon the women that came after. Can they break the bonds of history in time to save their family? Or will the Reid curse be their undoing?

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About the Author

Victoria Hawthorne is the pseudonym of bestselling suspense author Vikki Patis. THE DARKEST NIGHT is out now! She lives in Scotland with her wife, two wild golden retrievers, and an even wilder cat. You can find her on Twitter @VikkiPatis

Blog Tour Spotlight: The Falconer’s Apprentice, by Malve von Hassell

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Falconer’s Apprentice is a story of adventure and intrigue set in the intense social and political unrest of the Holy Roman Empire in the thirteenth century.

“That bird should be destroyed!”
Andreas stared at Ethelbert in shock. Blood from an angry-looking gash on the young lord’s cheek dripped onto his embroidered tunic. Andreas clutched the handles of the basket containing the young peregrine. Perhaps this was a dream—

Andreas, an apprentice falconer at Castle Kragenberg, cannot bear the thought of killing the young female falcon and smuggles her out of the castle. Soon he realizes that his own time there has come to an end, and he stows away, with the bird, in the cart of an itinerant trader, Richard of Brugge.

 
So begins a series of adventures that lead him from an obscure castle in northern Germany to the farthest reaches of Frederick von Hohenstaufen’s Holy Roman Empire, following a path dictated by the wily trader’s mysterious mission. 

Andreas continues to improve his falconry skills, but he also learns to pay attention to what is happening around him as he travels through areas fraught with political unrest.

 
Eventually, Richard confides in Andreas, and they conspire to free Enzio, the eldest of the emperor’s illegitimate sons, from imprisonment in Bologna.

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About the Author

Malve von Hassell is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell's memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich - Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994). She has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. Malve has published two children’s picture books, Tooth Fairy (Amazon KDP 2012/2020), and Turtle Crossing (Amazon KDP 2023), and her translation and annotation of a German children’s classic by Tamara Ramsay, Rennefarre: Dott’s Wonderful Travels and Adventures (Two Harbors Press, 2012).  Find out more from her website https://www.malvevonhassell.com  and find Malve on Facebook and Twitter: @MvonHassell

Book Launch: Grand Tour: The Brass Queen II, by Elizabeth Chatsworth

New from Amazon UK and Amazon US 

The grass was always greener in another dimension.

In a fantastical steam-powered world, eccentric aristocrat and secret arms dealer, Miss Constance Haltwhistle, has been blackmailed into stealing alien artifacts from the crown heads of Europe. 

Only the shady but annoyingly handsome US spy, “Liberty” Trusdale, can help her execute her perfect palace heists. As Constance creates chaos and mayhem across the Continent, monstrous creatures are plotting an interdimensional invasion of Earth. Will Constance and Trusdale stop bickering long enough to end the war of the worlds before it starts?

If you enjoy stories inspired by HG Wells’s War of the Worlds, you’ll love this gaslamp romp across an alternate 1890s Europe where our bickering heroes may just be the bad guys.

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About the Author

A native of Sheffield in Yorkshire, England, Elizabeth Chatsworth now lives in New Hampshire where she works as a voice actor. She writes science fiction and fantasy that celebrates rogues, rebels, and renegades across time and space. Elizabeth’s Science Fiction and Fantasy works have won the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award™ Gold and the Writers Of The Future Contest. Find out more from Elizabeth's website https://elizabethchatsworth.com/ and find her on Twitter at @EChatsworth

Book Review: The Dartington Bride, by Rosemary Griggs

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

1571, and the beautiful, headstrong daughter of a French Count marries the son of the Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West in Queen Elizabeth’s chapel at Greenwich. It sounds like a marriage made in heaven…

This second novel from Rosemary Griggs in her ‘Daughters of Devon’ series builds on her award-winning debut with the story of the life of Katherine Raleigh, 'A Woman of Noble Wit'.

As with her first book, Rosemary Griggs has drawn from well-researched historical events and the people of Devon, England. 

Lady Gabrielle Montgomery, known by her family as Roberda, flees the religious wars of France for Dartington Hall in Devon, where each day presents new challenges.

I particularly like the way Rosemary Griggs uses her experience as a guide at Dartington Hall to create an evocative and compelling first-person account from a woman's perspective. I enjoyed following Roberda's journey and the details of daily life in Elizabethan England.

'The Dartington Bride' is also a surprisingly topical exploration of the consequences of religious wars on innocent women, and the hardships faced by refugees. Highly recommended.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Rosemary Griggs is a retired Whitehall Senior Civil Servant with a lifelong passion for history. An avid researcher, she is now a speaker on Devon’s history and leads heritage tours at Dartington Hall.  She also creates and wears sixteenth century clothing which she often uses to bring history to life for local museums and community groups.  Rosemary lives in Devon with husband David, and her first novel, a Woman of Noble Wit features many of the county’s well loved places.  Find out more on Rosemary’s website https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/ and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @RAGriggsauthor